Night Owl (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

More Death & Co. recipes involving sherry are coming your way. This one is actually pretty simple for the speakeasy bar's repertoire. Lustau East India solera sherry is probably the big star in this cocktail with its woody and raisin notes. The one funky ingredient is Batavia Arrack, which I used to have but stopped buying because MurLarkey Justice white whiskey is a fair substitute. I use it when making Arrack punsch and Swedish punsch, because it has a distilled corn taste similar to Arrack's distilled rice flavor. 

Anyway, the funk of sherry and Arrack (or Justice) negates the need for bitters in this cocktail. It is middling sweet, but cognac keeps it from being cloying. I'm glad I tried this before dinner, because there's no reason it has to be had late at night.

• 2 oz. cognac (Martell single distillery used)
• 1/2 oz. Punt E Mes (Cocchi di Torino used)
• 1/2 oz. Lustau East India Solera Sherry
• 1/4 oz. Van Oosten Batavia Arrack (MurLarkey Justice white whiskey used)

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Hoosier Daddy (Original Recipe)

 

Now for something completely outside the box. I was making Hoosier stew, that midwest skillet dinner with green beans, Polish sausage and potatoes and onions. It's a salty, fatty winter treat. But it occurred to me that cocktails can often be an offshoot of soup recipes, that it is very realistic to make a broth-base drink that is savory and have it actually be good. 

It wasn't my immediate realization that MurLarkey Justice white whiskey, with it's corn spirit nose and vegetel finish (almost like green beans) would be perfect for a Hoosier stew cocktail. 

The drink had to be salty with just a little pepper spice. I got creative and salted the rim and added black pepper, paprika and a just a few dashes of chipotle Tabasco for smoke. But it needed a garnish to get the Hoosier stew concept across. Actual smoked sausage, a steamed green bean and cocktail onions (and the odd olive pictured) festoon this silly cocktail.

But it's not that silly. There's plenty of drinks like the Bull Shot and Steaming Bull. The Bloody Mary is the best example of a savory cocktail that is essentially out-of-control tomato soup. It's no Bloody Mary, but that's not what I was going for. It was more like the Borscht Belt or Gazpacho Cocktaill, a soup cocktail that knows what it is. Hoosier Stew is definitely that, and for those who love the dish, they should try the drink. I have to say, this is way better than a Chicken Shot.

• 2 oz. chicken stock
• 1 1/2 oz. MurLarkey Justice white whiskey
• 1/2 oz. vodka
• coarse salt rim
  
• pinch salt
• pinch pepper
• pinch paprika
• several dashes chipotle Tabasco
• Polish sausage, onion, and steamed green bean garnishes

Rim an Old Fashioned glass with coarse salt by wetting the rim and dipping it into a dish of salt. Combine liquid ingredients and seasoning in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into the glass and garnish with stew morsels like smoked sausage, steamed bean and pickled onion.

Autumn White Whiskey Margarita (MurLarkey Justice Variation)

 

Most tequila drinkers swear by the tequila Margarita, and that makes sense. There's a risk involved in swapping out the principal ingredient in any recipe, that being that the name of the recipe itself becomes meaningless. In the case of white whiskey, however, certain white whiskies have the qualities of tequila: a clean spirit flavor that blends well with citrus and herbal notes that are close to tequila. 

I've done plain white whiskey Margaritas before and they are excellent chameleon cocktails. You really feel like you are south of the border, when the spirit comes from your local distillery. So I felt that a white whiskey Margarita gives me permission to use flavored whiskies to create a flavored Margarita variation. 

MurLarkey's cinnamon whiskey gives any cocktail that essence of Fall weather and the spice we crave to warm us up. Peach is usually associated with summer, but swapping out the traditional orange flavored triple sec also changes the profile. To be honest, if I had pear or apple whiskey, I'd be using that and I encourage you to experiment as well. The whole purpose of this post is to further the spirit of innovation.

• 1 1/2 oz. white whiskey (MurLarkey Justice used)
• 1/2 oz. cinnamon whiskey (MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey used)
• 1/2 oz. peach or other fruit whiskey (Bird Dog peach whiskey used)
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. sugar syrup 
• lime slice
• coarse salt for rim
  

Rim an Old Fashioned glass with salt by wetting it with a slice of lime and dipping it into coarse salt. Fill the glass with fresh ice. Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into the glass and garnish with the lime slice.

White Whiskey Saketini

Is it a Martini if you make it with white whiskey instead of gin or vodka? Furthermore, does a Martini require dry vermouth? (I tend to think it does.) The Saketini, especially this one, is not a Martini at all, but it is a savory treat: especially with a pepper drop garnish like shown above.

MurLarkey Justice White Whiskey is an unaged corn whiskey that really features the distiller's main product. Unadulterated it is still bold and bracing, even when chilled. It takes a significant amount of sake to break through (which is why I can't call this a Martini. The spirit just isn't neutral at all.) I also added a little of the juice from the pepper drop jar for vinegar tang.

• 2 oz. White Corn Whiskey (MurLarkey Justice used)
• 1 oz. sake 
• pepper drop garnish
• drizzle of pepper drop juice

Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with the pepper drops.

Limey

Limey is the ultimate lime cocktail. It's like a Daiquiri that uses a lime liqueur, lime zest and juice to really get an intense lime flavor. I used Vitae platinum rum for the rum and Vitae orange liquor for triple sec. This triple sec is made of Virginia bitter hearty oranges and other sweet orange flavors in a rum base that tastes the same as the platinum label. 

Since there are few lime liqueurs available, I made my own. My experience making falernum came in handy here, since falernum is a lime and spice liqueur. I just made it without the spices. Instead of rum, this time I used MurLarkey Justice white whiskey. This is unaged barley and corn spirit that tastes a little like a cane juice rum. I made the liqueur by soaking the zest of two limes in six ounces of Justice for a week. When you are ready to use the liqueur, add the juice of one lime and simple syrup to taste and shake it. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. 

• 2 oz. light rum (Vitae platinum rum used)
• 1 oz. lime liqueur (homemade MurLarkey Justice lime liqueur used)
• 1/2 oz. triple sec (Vitae orange liquor used)
• 1 oz. lime juice
• lime twist. 

Combine liquid ingredients in a blender with ice. Blend until slushy and pour into a chilled wine glass. Garnish with the lime twist.

Saffron (White) Witch

I love the look and taste of this cocktail. It really plays up two flavors present in Strega, the Italian Alpine liqueur with saffron and mint in abundance. Additionally it has a touch of Meletti Amaro, a saffron amaro with a bittersweet herbal flavor. Meletti is mild and lightly colored, so it doesn't really bitter this drink up too much, but allows the saffron color to shine through.

With all these intense herbal flavors going on, you are likely to miss the whiskey flavor. This is my first up drink with MurLarkey Justice white whiskey. This unaged whiskey has a lot of character, much like tequila or a Martinique rum. It is spicy and sticks out of your cocktail, however you use it, but it is much tamed by all this saffron and mint.

• 2 oz. MurLarkey Justice
• 1 oz. Strega
• 1/2 oz. Meletti Amaro
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• mint sprig

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the mint sprig.

(White) Whiskey And Tonic

When is it O.K. to make a Whiskey and Tonic? When you use white whiskey and Q Indian Tonic or some other high-juniper tonic. That is because you get all the flavorful corn and tequila-like notes of a white whiskey like MurLarkey's Justice and the juniper flavor you usually associate with a gin.

There's lots of drinks you can make with white whiskey. It plays well with citrus in drinks like Margaritas, but you can also go sweet like an Eggnog or some kind of rum punch.

This is a simple recipe you can make if you don't feel like thinking too much about making cocktails, or it turns out that you don't happen to have any gin on hand.

• 1 1/2 oz. white whiskey (MurLarkey Justice used)
• Q Indian Tonic or high-juniper tonic
• lime wedge

Build drink in a rocks glass with whiskey and ice and top with tonic. Stir and garnish with a lime wedge.